Illinois College To Offer ‘Video Game Playing’ Scholarships

A college scholarship for playing video games? It's a dream come true for some Illinois students.

Sure, there's academic scholarships available for students who seek out higher learning, and yes there's even sports scholarships for students. You have football, basketball, and video games. Yes, video gaming is an 'esport', at least according to Illinois College in Jacksonville. We're not talking about designing video games, but playing them to pay for your college education. It's a geek's dream come true, if you have the skills.

Competitive video gaming is the new thing. A number of colleges and universities around the world are forming teams to compete in completions. Most of these competitions feature big prizes and have sponsors with deep pockets. More and more colleges and universities are expected to jump aboard th bandwagon in upcoming years.

The Herald Review reports that beginning in Fall of 2017, Illinois College in Jacksonville will offer scholarships. The college team will be coached by Christian Matlock who says he has has seen the rise of video gaming for the past five years. Matlock has been hired to coach the varsity and JV teams. (Yes, there will be two teams)

How will the teams practice? You guessed it, by playing video games. Not bad for homework, especially if it's something you love to do.

Your inner geek could get you a college scholarship. To apply to the Illinois College for the video game program, click HERE.

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